1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to apparatus for delivering printing ribbon from a stationary source to a moving carrier; said carrier carrying the printing means and moving with respect to the paper (or other medium that receives the printing) as printing proceeds, the paper being supported by a stationary paper holder such as a conventional carriage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the advent of practical and widely used by and teleprinters which have a printing device which is carriage-transported back and forth along a writing line, it became necessary to provide ribbon supply and take-up systems which also could be transported by the carriage in order to conserve ribbon which otherwise would be wasted during non-printing movements of the carriage and to obviate the need for contrivances and devices to conserve or lengthwise adjust the ribbon such as the loop formers shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,847 or other mechanisms as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,609,077; 3,236,353; or 3,726,381. In order to simplify ribbon threading, many of the present systems have taken the form of an easily installed ribbon supply and take-up cartridge or cassette which is supported by the carriage. Unfortunately, these carriage-supported systems have severe drawbacks. They add considerable weight to the carriage, require ribbon feeding devices and ribbon take-up drives which add considerable weight and complexity to the carriage, and are limited in ribbon supply capacity due to weight and available space considerations. These drawbacks are eliminated by this invention.
Prior U.S. Pat. Nos. to Rumbutis 2,240,578, issued May 6, 1941, "Typewriter Machine"; Toggenburger 2,425,967, issued Aug. 19, 1947, "Ribbon Feed for Typewriter Machines"; Brumhill 2,467,881, issued Apr. 19, 1949, "Ribbon Guiding Means for Typewriters"; Brumhill 2,479,669, issued Aug. 23, 1949, "Ribbon Feeding Mechanism for Typewriters"; Brumhill 2,513,137, issued June 27, 1950, "Ribbon Feeding and Guiding Means For Typewriter and Like Machines"; Schroder 2,609,077, issued Sept. 2, 1952, "Ribbon Feed for Typewriter Machines"; Korner 2,889,908, issued June 9, 1959, "Typewriter Attachment"; Perucca 3,675,753, issued July 11, 1972, "High-Speed Printer"; and Garberi et al 3,889,795, issued June 17, 1975, "Removable Cartridge for the Inked Ribbon for Typewriters, Calculating Machines or Other Office Machines", disclose a stationary ribbon supply and take-up means coacting and/or cooperating with a movable carriage.
Furthermore, resilient metal tape of concavo-convex shape is known, see U.S. No. 1,964,280 to Witchger, issued June 26, 1934, "Tape Measure", and U.S. Pat. No. 1,973,843 to Buck, issued Sept. 18, 1934, "Measuring Tape".
In addition, ribbon cartridges for use on the movable printing carriage of a typewriter are known in which the cartridge may be inserted in the machine without the necessity of threading inky ribbon through fixed guides on the machinery, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,231 to Matuck et al, issued Mar. 2, 1976, "Ribbon Cartridge".